12.21.06 | Price = Quality?
I just got off the phone with a Dad who is very upset with his daughter’s last minute decision to change school’s next semester. Currently, his daughter is attending a local state college but would like to go out of state to a more expensive private university. Her reason is because she believes the private school will provide her with a higher quality of education which will offer job opportunities lucrative enough to offset the cost. Dad was unhappy with her decision because at the state school she had received a generous financial aid package where at the private university the financial aid package was not nearly as attractive. His question to me was if cost is an indicator of the quality of education.
In my profession I always have a definitive answer but for this question I felt there is no simple solution. My advice to Dad was that his daughter needs to go to the school that she thinks is the best college for her. It needs to be a balance of receiving a great education and the opportunity to be really happy. Attending a school just because it is affordable makes no sense if you are going to be miserable. College should be fun. On the other hand, it makes no sense to pay a ton of money to go to some swanky private school if you can go to a school that’s cheaper and just as good.